Archive for February, 2012
Detroit Citizens No Longer Rely on Police as Self-Defense Killings Skyrocket
February 9th, 2012Via: The Daily: Justifiable homicide in the city shot up 79 percent in 2011 from the previous year, as citizens in the long-suffering city armed themselves and took matters into their own hands. The local rate of self-defense killings now stands 2,200 percent above the national average. Residents, unable to rely on a dwindling police […]
Fewer Young Adults Hold Jobs Than Ever Before
February 9th, 2012Via: CNN: The share of young adults with jobs has hit its lowest level since the government started keeping records just after World War II. By the end of 2011, only 54.3% of those between the ages of 18 and 24 were employed, according to a Pew Research Center report released Thursday. And the gap […]
Los Angeles County OKs $1,000 Fine For Throwing Football, Frisbee On Beaches
February 9th, 2012Via: CBS: When you head down to the beach for a little fun this summer, county officials want you to leave the pigskin at home. The Board of Supervisors this week agreed to raise fines to up to $1,000 for anyone who throws a football or a Frisbee on any beach in Los Angeles County. […]
Britain: TomTom Tech to Set Driver Insurance Premiums
February 9th, 2012Definitely watch, “15 Million Merits,” the second episode of Black Mirror, to see where this economic model is headed. The potential for nightmarish implementations of this is pretty much unlimited. Via: PC Pro: TomTom has signed a deal with an insurance company to use its satnav technology to measure driving ability to set premiums. The […]
Google Will Pay People to Authoritatively Root Themselves: Track 100% of Web Usage Via Dedicated Hardware
February 9th, 2012If that black box option doesn’t require the browser plugins… 1) Connect to VPN 2) Let Google collect a bunch of encrypted data that tells them nothing about what you’re doing online 3) Profit? haha. I haven’t read the fine print, though. Via: Ars Technica: Google is working to collect information about Internet users that […]
GlaxoSmithKline Clears Cash From Eurozone On A Daily Basis
February 8th, 2012It’s like having a PayPal account! *chortle* Via: Telegraph: GlaxoSmithKline is clearing cash out of eurozone countries on a daily basis to protect itself against a potential banking and liquidity crisis in the region. Sir Andrew Witty, chief executive of Britain’s biggest drug maker, said that early last year the company had started emptying “tens […]
More Concerns Over San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant Safety
February 8th, 2012Via: San Diego Reader: Concerns about safety and the durability of components at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station are continuing to surface as the plant approaches a full week of complete shutdown. The plant’s Unit 3 reactor was taken out of commission after a radioactive water leak was discovered on January 31, while Unit 2 […]
Britain: Undercover Police Officer Chased Himself Round the Streets for 20 Minutes After a CCTV Operator Mistook Him for Suspect
February 8th, 2012Via: Telegraph: The junior officer, who has not been named, was monitoring an area hit by a series of burglaries in an unnamed market town in the country’s south. As the probationary officer from Sussex Police searched for suspects, the camera operator radioed that he had seen someone “acting suspiciously” in the area. But he […]
Putin’s Internet Troll Army
February 8th, 2012Via: Guardian: The Russian youth group Nashi has paid hundreds of thousands of pounds to a vast network of bloggers, journalists and internet trolls to create flattering coverage of Vladimir Putin and discredit his political rivals, according to a haul of thousands of emails allegedly sent to and from the group that have been released […]
Britain: Girls, 13, Given Contraceptive Implants at School
February 8th, 2012Via: Telegraph: Girls as young as 13 have been fitted with contraceptive implants at school without their parents knowing. The procedure was carried out in Southampton, Hants, as part of a government initiative to drive down teenage pregnancies. As many as nine secondary schools in the city are thought to have been involved. But it […]
